Should I charge travelers a 3% fee to use a credit card?

It depends how badly you want to encourage travelers to book direct on Houfy. Keep in mind, one of the major reasons travelers are drawn to direct book is to bypass the high rates and fees charged on the other platforms.

Many hosts keep rates the same across all platforms: Airbnb, Vrbo, and Houfy. They prefer their most attractive rates to be on Houfy. And since they have to pay Airbnb and Vrbo 3%, they consider the 3% to Stripe or Square the cost of doing business. Not to mention, they get paid sooner when a traveler books on Houfy.

Here are some reasons why hosts choose to have the most attractive rates on Houfy:

1. Airbnb can refund guests on day of arrival, even after holding the calendar for months. Some hosts consider this policy too risky.

2. They prefer guests recommend Houfy to friends and family versus their Airbnb listing. When travelers book on Airbnb, it gives Airbnb even more leverage than they already have.

3. Airbnb bookings tend to be time-consuming. Navigating the red tape and dealing with runarounds is something they want to avoid if possible.

4. Airbnb is not host-friendly when it comes to allowing hosts to get signed rental agreements or ID. On Houfy, they can easily do this.

5. Hosts with pet-free listings worry about guests bringing emotional support cats.

Many hosts refuse to open their prime calendar weeks on Airbnb. Instead, they only list their shoulder weeks or off season dates. And they increase rates by at least 10%, just to make up for the hassles of Airbnb policies.

Here is one way some hosts reduce credit card costs:

Allow a small reservation deposit by credit card. Require the balance by check. The traveler won't worry about losing dates, and your calendar won't be blocked while waiting for payment to be made.

Checks need time to clear so this works best for properties that book at least 45 days in advance. Here is how to set this up on Houfy:

1. Go to Menu > Manage Listings > Edit > Settings > Payment & Policies, then click the Payment Policy header to open the section - the sections on this page start closed.

2. Choose the Deposit + Balance card. (Full Payment takes 100% at booking and hides the deposit settings.)

3. Under Initial Deposit, pick Percentage or Fixed and enter the amount - for example 15%.

4. Under Balance Due, choose how long before check-in the balance is due: 7, 10, 14, 30, 45, 60 or 90 days, or Custom for any other number of days. This is a number of days before arrival, not a calendar date.

5. In Additional Notes at the bottom of the same section, describe your payment policy and say when the check must arrive. If you allow the balance by credit card as well, say so here.

6. Update your rental agreement to reflect any changes. Consider repeating the check-payment terms in your cancellation policy and house rules as well.

When the balance comes due: Houfy schedules that payment against the guest's card, so once the check arrives you need to open the reservation, find the scheduled balance charge under Scheduled Charges, and cancel it with Record an outside payment switched on - choose Check as the payment source. If you skip this step the card is charged as scheduled.

Note: Always check your state's laws before charging consumers credit card fees. Some states make it illegal.

If you do want to charge more on Houfy, I highly suggest not charging a separate percentage fee, but increase your rates instead. Remember, the host still pays the credit card fee even if it's a separate line item. It's just semantics to say the guest pays it. The only time the guest pays the fee is when they have a choice to choose a lesser rate.

You can charge extra fees on your Houfy listing: Menu > Manage Listings > Edit > Pricing > Rates and Fees.